Northampton County judicial follies are enthralling

April 07, 2012|Paul Carpenter

Lehigh County's court system has had its share of entertaining moments.

One judge had a reputation for repeatedly going to sleep during court, another unabashedly abrogated the Bill of Rights, and a third, a district judge, was found in a survey to be the worst judge in America.

Recently, however, nothing could top the judicial soap opera going on in Lehigh County's neighbor to the east.

Northampton County Judge Michael Koury got the ball rolling in February when he decided to revive Gilda Radner's Roseanne Roseannadanna and Emily Litella routines by overturning the silly old notion that juries should have the final say.

After a jury found that a woman accused of drunken driving didn't do it, as far as legal proof was concerned, Koury said oh yes she did, and proclaimed her guilty of a related charge.

When somebody criticized him online for his cockamamie ruling, he incorrectly assumed it was a defense attorney and assailed him in public.

"Never mind," you could almost hear Koury saying at the woman's sentencing (up to six months in jail but released pending appeal) this week. "It just goes to show you, Jane, it's always something."

Soon, I'm pretty sure Koury will have something to say about the reports of violins on the streets of Easton, similar to Litella's diatribe about "violins on television."

In the meantime, news accounts said Koury joined all eight of that county's other judges in signing an order banning one particular deputy sheriff, Tom Bachik, from their courtrooms after finding he engaged in what, I gather, was a conspiracy to commit free speech.

A story in The Morning Call on Friday said Bachik, treasurer of the deputies' union, sent a Feb. 29 letter to County Executive John Stoffa complaining that some judges hurt courtroom security by playing favorites and by asking that certain deputies be assigned to their courtrooms.

Another letter, according to the Easton Express-Times, was from Deputy Brian Budraitis to Sheriff Randy Miller, saying security was compromised by President Judge Kimberly McFadden, accusing her of asking that a convicted killer be transferred to state prison as soon as possible.

I am not exactly sure why a judge should not say something like that, but the letter expressed fears that if bad guys knew there was going to be a transfer coming soon, they could set up an ambush in which deputies could be harmed. There must be an epidemic of such ambushes. But why shouldn't a judge pick which deputy is assigned to her courtroom? (Maybe she prefers one who stays awake.)

I'm also not sure why all nine judges would get their shorts in a bunch over deputies writing letters. And why did they pick only on Bachik and not on other deputies who exercised free speech to whine to other officials about the judges?

Anyway, the story also said Walt Felton, head of the union, was miffed over not knowing about the Budraitis letter until he and Sheriff Miller were rebuked by McFadden. (I get a feeling nobody in that courthouse likes anybody else there, and they get riled up over issues that would not upset a bunch of pro hockey goons.)

Just when I felt courthouse drama could not get any more intense, The Morning Call had a story on Good Friday about a Ten Commandments plaque vanishing from the Northampton County Council's chambers. It had been there since Councilman Ron Angle, thrown out of office by voters last November, hung it up to declare that, contrary to the First Amendment, America does have an established religion.

The plaque mystery has preoccupied the courthouse since it was discovered during Wednesday's council meeting that some satanic fiend had swiped it. Angle, the story said, offered a $500 reward for its recovery. (I'm not confirming or denying anything, mind you, but I'd like to invite my friends over on this fine Easter morning to see the nice plaque I just put up in my house.)

There is another Ten Commandments plaque at that courthouse. McFadden has the Ten Commandments on the main courtroom wall, to the exclusion of any and all other beliefs, and I've had a lot to say about that over the years. It proclaims that only the established Judeo-Christian religions are tolerated in Northampton County.

My other comments about McFadden have been similarly unkind. I bashed her in 2004, for example, when she refused to put her hand over her heart during the playing of the national anthem at a ceremony.

The latest exciting episodes of the Northampton County Courthouse soap opera, however, are even more enthralling.